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The Saboteur

Pandemic’s Stylish Swan Song Reinvigorates World War II Games

Gamers can’t escape World War II. We’ve stormed the beaches of
Normandy, fought the Battle of the Bulge, and liberated Stalingrad a
hundred times over, yet developers keep dangling Nazis in front of our
gun muzzles. Thankfully Pandemic isn’t interested in making us relive
these historical triumphs again. Rather than trying to encapsulate the
drama of the entire European Theater, The Saboteur earns points for
concentrating its efforts on a specific location with a specific
storyline.

Sean Devlin wasn’t always a revolutionary fighter. The
smarmy Irish race car driver would rather spend his time in bars and
bedrooms. But when a Nazi officer steals a race from him, kills his
best friend, and aids the invasion of Paris, he puts his leisurely
pursuits on hold and takes up arms with the French Resistance. That’s
not to say he’s carving a new identity for himself – Devlin still makes
time for the occasional race and romp, but instead of hanging out at
bars in between exploits, he’s hanging off Nazi towers planting
explosives to drive the Wehrmacht back to Germany.

As befitting its brash leather jacketed protagonist, The Saboteur bleeds cool. Like Sin City,
Parisian neighborhoods stifled under German occupation have no color
save for the yellow light emanating from building windows and the bold
red banners of their Nazi oppressors. With German soldiers harassing
Parisian citizens and even lining up impromptu execution squads on the
streets, the oppression is palpable. As Devlin rids the area of Nazi
tanks, watchtowers, AA guns, and encampments, color comes back to the
area and its citizens will start openly defying the German squads
stationed around the city. While much of the joie de vivre
Paris is well known for is stifled above ground by barbed wire and Nazi
propaganda, the underground is full of life, with sexy showgirls at
Parisian cabarets who take you into hiding, wily black marketeers eager
to sell you new weaponry, and intellectuals turned revolutionaries in
need of Devlin’s help to drive the Germans from their homeland.

The
Saboteur isn’t afraid to borrow concepts from its contemporaries. An
amalgamation of the open world sandbox of Grand Theft Auto, the chaotic
freeplay of Crackdown, the climbing of Assassin’s Creed, and the
zipline and rooftop traversal of Infamous, the game wears its
influences on its sleeve. While these game mechanics work, like the
French resistance they seem to have been done on the cheap. The
sluggish car controls seemingly turn on an axis in the middle of the
vehicle, which takes practice to master. Climbing frustratingly
requires you to jam on the A button for each movement up the building.
The gunplay has a sketchy auto cover system and the weaponry lacks the
punch of more visceral shooters.

Other areas of the game also
lack the polish of a groundbreaking title as well. Pandemic
questionably buried the map three clicks into the menu system, which is
a major faux pas for an open world game that requires you to place
waypoints to navigate the large city. Cars take damage from bullets,
but you’ll need to run over an entire city block of benches before you
start seeing any wear and tear on the chassis. The Germans were bold
enough to overtake Paris, but given the braindead and lackadaisical
nature of their infantry, it doesn’t take much to drive them from
individual posts.

The Saboteur may lack the polish of the
contemporaries it boldly mimics, but protagonist Sean Devlin’s quest
for revenge and an alluring 1940s Paris make this a World War II memory
worth making.

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User Reviews:

Video games set during the World War II era aren't hard to find. Franchises like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty helped popularize the genre a few generations ago but gamers have since grown tired of the same scenarios. Sure, WW II was massive and took place in various parts of the world but we can...

People like to say this game is a GTA clone but I disagree. I personally hate GTA. This game has a great story, good music, and did a great job of blending the various elements it draws from. It has a very interesting style with the black and white nazi oppression to the colorful liberated areas. But...

Pandemic tried to go out with a bang when they made The Saboteur. Does The Saboteur make a beautiful explosion or does the TNT blow up in its face? Gameplay The Saboteur is an open world game. The world is full of NPCs walking the streets and driving in cars even moving in and out of buildings. The NPCs...

The Saboteur game is great if you like an open free world game and enjoy shooting up nazi's and distroying almost any thing in your path. As always there is a twist although it seems a free open world to roam there are road blocks that you must watch out for and even with your pass to get through...

I'll certainly say this...The Saboteur gets the job done. For once, we have a WWII game that doesn't just involve "I'm in ur G3rmany, killin ur doodz". Striking visuals, a good-enough revenge plot and one heck of an awesome soundtrack elevate the otherwise only-decent gameplay....

As I stated in other reviews....Its just GTA: WWII. Thats it. I thought the review from the editor was really misleading (especially since I ended up buying the game after reading it) but quite frankly thats my fault for giving an editor any credibility. Some people will love this game, which is ok,...